Grandson
by Tenchi -J. Hahn
Summary: Alternate Universe. No, really. It's different. Well, an alternate alternate universe. And I just like to use 'grand' in my titles. No, really, I do. Honest. Trust me. IT'S A NEW STORY, I SWEAR!
1. In Between: Countdown 3

The architect of the house had created a section of the second-floor hall lined with windows, offering a perfect view of the lake below and the valley beyond. Here at those windows sat a troubled man, as caught up with the depth of his thoughts as he was with the moonlit scene. Within the protection of his arms slept his small half-sister, enjoying a comfort impossible for her companion to share.

His name was Yosho, and this was not the only valley he had ever gazed upon, nor the only moon. For he was not of the Earth, but a man from a distant world, an interstellar capitol known as Jurai, and through a passage of time measured in centuries and a route untraceable on any chart, he had finally come to this secluded place in rural Japan to meet his destiny. He was a living piece in a great game whose players were ruthless and intractable, and whose outcome afforded nothing less than the future of the stars themselves.

Yosho was unhappy to be simply 'a piece.'

Yet, what had he ever been? He had been born the heir to an Imperial throne, itself a form of destiny. He had been drawn in, with one other, to begin this vast game, a game to be concluded quickly and at his Empire's ultimate loss. But the one who started this match so long ago, the one known as Kagato, misplayed his strategy and the pieces began to play themselves. He, the knight Yosho, almost was lost. Badly hurt, instead he was moved to a far corner of the board. Locked in a stasis field for some seven centuries, only now -at the endgame- was he even potentially a part of victory.

And what of the other? She was Ryoko, a pirate, a scoundrel, a pawn. It was this throw-away piece that was to open up the game for Kagato. She, too, suffered grievously in the fight that sent Yosho into slumber, but her injuries did not lock her in imprisonment, but rather freed her from the game-master's control. For in Earth chess, pawns can become queens, and Ryoko had become ever so much more. Yes, she had become a queen, but also had changed sides. Indeed, she had done the impossible, and had leapt off the board. Kagato had yet to realize it, but Ryoko was moving pieces of her own, and had been for quite some time.

Yosho was one of hers and had been for forty years now.

Of course, he hardly understood that for most of that time. When he was awakened by a pair of graduate students, he quickly concluded Ryoko had died long ago, assured by his elderly rescuer, a woman in her sixties everyone simply called Grandmother Masaki, that he was the only legacy of that epic fight. Well, just he and a few thousand descendants of his.

Yes, how fogged he had been upon return to the board. But how clearly he remembered those days, being nursed by the young and vivacious OTHER rescuer, smiling at her constant chatter about school, proud of her earning her doctorate, warm and safe with her in the old homestead that stood not very far from the current Masaki House. On how all that was golden passed from mother to daughter that evil night, that wonderful night, when his second wife said her gentle sayonara, and Achika became a blessing beyond measure in his life.

How, how, how. Yosho stopped his memories here, as he always did. Grandmother always accused him of never facing the truth about Achika, and for once the bitchy old crone was probably right. After her, Yosho put away his Japanese disguise and wandered, becoming the tramp and vagrant his father always accused him of becoming. He truly believed he would never return here again. And, if not for Grandmother, he surely would have.

For there was no 'Grandmother Masaki.' There was only Ryoko, an ancient enemy what rescued him not once, but twice! Saving him for her revenge on Kagato. Manipulating him, not to mention over thirty generations of the Masakis that bore his bloodline, to set up traps within traps within traps for her former master and hated foe. She had so many threads woven so strangely, so intimately, Yosho wondered if even she knew them all. Every secret Yosho had found, every lie he had revealed, proved to be another hidden weapon of hers aimed at Kagato's heart.

Yet the greatest secret remained. The prize of the game. The reason Kagato had set up the board in the first place. Oh, it was power, to be sure. And it was the power of Yosho's royal line, Jurai Royal Family. But beyond that, what was it? The power of Jurai was linear, but no analysis had ever revealed it. It came from a time before anyone in the Family now living, back in the time when Tsunami, Mother of the Ship-Trees, joined with Yosho's line in the alliance that made Jurai the most powerful realm in the Galaxy. Few still lived from that ancient past, and Yosho was certainly not one of them. Yet, Kagato had been convinced he held some great secret, convinced enough to lure him so far from Imperial borders only to lose him on the small planet Earth.

But just for a time. Kagato had found Yosho, found him this very night, and Kagato waited for Yosho, waited for him in orbit about Earth's oversized moon, the same moon that so brilliantly lit up this night. Kagato would ask his questions now. Yosho hoped he had no answers for the man.

  
  


The girl in his arms moved ever so slightly. Sasami. Another piece in the game, an oh, so fragile piece. Before dawn, the great ship Tsunami, hidden in an orbit of her own, would take her back. Tsunami would protect the child, but what else Tsunami was to do was on a need-to-know basis, and as far as Ryoko was concerned, no one ever needed to know.

But for now, Tsunami had -against Ryoko's wishes- let the Jurai family have a few precious days together. Some joy before the dark. For the issue with Kagato was by no means assured. All could fall, all could be lost, and Yosho understood, as did they all, that Jurai Royal Family, Tsunami, and Ryoko might all need perish to keep the final power from the madman's hands.

All of them. Even the boy, Tenchi, perhaps the last of the Masakis. Fitting that the beginning and the end of such a loyal family should meet the end together.

Yosho shook his head. What was wrong with him? This place was making him think like some damned samurai about to perish in a hopeless cause. Preparation for death almost always got you there. No, I must prepare for victory, he thought. For Sasami, if for nothing else.

He held the girl close. How long, was his next thought, how long since I've held such a child in my arms. He stopped his memories there, as he always did. But his feelings, they were another matter altogether.


	2. In Between: Countdown 2

The moonlight illuminated the thoughts of another member of the Royal line of Jurai. That light was part of a tableau of natural simplicity and order, joining the light of a candle inside a stone lantern, the touch of a soft breeze that could be heard as well as felt, and the scents of incense, tea and the lake beyond. The woman had placed herself and these several elements in a perfect meditative balance as she sat upon the front porch of Masaki House. At appropriate moments, she would open her eyes and experience the utter roundness of silver moon, then closed those eyes again, joining with the utter truth of the moment.

From behind her, a soft voice asked, "Um, Princess? Mind if I join you?"

The seated woman, Her Imperial Highness Princess Ayeka of Jurai, smiled and turned her head. "Not at all, Ryoko. Please, come sit."

The tall, white haired woman took a place next to the other. She stared at the moon a moment then looked around at her companion's set-up. "If you don't mind my asking, Ayeka, what are you doing?"

"I am sitting facing Kagato," the princess stated with resolution.

Ryoko did a few quick jerks around. "Kagato? Here?"

"I don't mean literally. What I mean to say is, I am preparing myself for our meeting by sitting here in plain sight of him. There are no barriers, nothing for me to hide behind. I am beginning the fight against my enemies by settling my mind and heart."

"Kagato is the one enemy," said Ryoko.

"Kagato and my fear of him," corrected Ayeka. "Either could defeat us. I have found defiance is easier to maintain than it is to find later when you need it. And I defy Kagato by allowing nothing to come between us."

Ryoko shrugged. "Nothing unless you count roughly thirty kilometers of atmosphere, a lot of cosmic rays, a fair bit of solar wind, some ionized molecules and whatever amount of over-sexed spaceship is currently protecting his sorry ass from hard vacuum. Take away all that, and you two are practically cheek-to-cheek!" She turned and looked a moment at Ayeka. "Hey, you know, that regeneration thing you're doing is really starting to take effect! You've taken at least ten years off!"

Ayeka blushed slightly, impossible to see in the silver blue light. "Thank you, Ryoko! I am gratified the process has begun so well! Of course, it was nothing compared to the jump you made!" Ayeka, being of Jurai, was utilizing some of her powers to reduce her visible age. A person from the Earth would have guessed her as being about fifty when she had arrived scant months before, but as Ryoko so correctly pointed out, that had changed dramatically. But even more dramatic was the regeneration Ryoko had performed just after sunset. In a forest of flame and light, she had changed her form from that of a centenarian to that of a woman barely thirty in mere moments. All this was simply a matter of appearance. Ayeka was born over seven hundred years before. And Ryoko? Her age was just another one of her millions of secrets.

"That jump was all flash, Ayeka. The true power was entirely internal. The light show put out next-to-no power, for all the noise and smoke. No, I've been keeping my power well hidden for months now and today was no exception. Since he didn't spot me when he was here earlier, I think it must have worked."

"Here? Kagato? Ryoko, are you sure?"

The pirate/shrine keeper smiled. "Pretty sure! Oh, I didn't see him or anything, but I know how he works. He scoped out the whole place, got power levels on you, Yosho, and your sister, probably even checked out the stasis pool. Only then did he show off up there," she said, pointing up at the moon. "He didn't come for me, so that means I'm still hidden."

"Come for you?""

"Yup. I know how he works." They both sat there a moment, thinking about it. "Say, Aeka, how come you haven't stayed young this whole time, and don't hand me that diplomatic stuff! I mean, you're the Heir and all! I would have thought they'd have chained someone to you by now!"

It took a few long seconds for her to answer. "Oh, a determined woman can control her own fate in Jurai. And I won't say there weren't affairs and moments of romance. But there was this trade delegate, very tall, very handsome, very attentive. Noble blood, of course, and very available for advancement."

"Not a lot of guys who are 'very' in so many ways!" said Ryoko.

"No, there aren't. But then there was the Canereladon business, which of course you know nothing about, and I got trapped in that system for all that time, and so it wasn't until after Liberation Day and I could free myself from Resistance duties that I thought of my young delegate. And so I set off to meet him again." She sipped some tea from her cup. "His grandson wheeled him into the room. He had never advanced far enough. Oh, we talked about a life well lived, and such as that, but it was a total embarrassment all around. So, now, when I get tempted, I remember the old man in the chair, and my heart just moves along." Another sip. "Funny, the grandson eventually was promoted. He became a meaningless pink-haired fop who fancied himself a fighter! I can't even recall his name! Very strange!

"Any what about you, Ryoko? Surely there must have been moments for you!"

The woman nodded. "I had my fun before all this started. Couldn't for a long time after. Kagato took a lot from me. I lost control and I didn't like it! I didn't like it at all!

"Oh, sooner or later I got tired of being afraid of shadows. But, you know what, Princess? It always seemed that when I had the time to play, there was no one worth playing with. And then I'd meet somebody promising, and just then came an opportunity to strengthen myself against that fruitcake up there in the big ship!. And by the time I was ready, well, like you say, time marches on. It was almost like Fate."

"Perhaps you're inspired by handsome young men!" said Ayeka with a smile.

"Could be! There are worse things to happen to a girl! And with luck, maybe I can get myself a personal life after this is all over!"

"You could always come work for me, Ryoko!"

"Work for you? Me, a bureaucrat? Excuse me, Ayeka, but I'm a pirate!"

"Excuse me, Ryoko, but I'm the Jurian Minister of Trade! If there's a bigger pirate this side of the Galactic Core, I'd surely love to meet them!"

They laughed together in the moonlight, and sat there, enjoying the bond between them. "Ayeka, "as Ryoko broke the silence, "Ours is a strange friendship."

"HMPH! You're letting labels get in the way. Oh, it's taken awhile, but I believe we were meant to be friends. We are similar where we need to be similar, and very apart where that's important, too. If you want to be fatalistic, then let that be where Fate intervenes!"

"Fate's okay, but give me a well thought out plan any day." Ryoko got lightly to her feet. "Whoa! Yesterday it would have taken a crane to get me up from a lotus position! Much better! Well, time to rest. Consider getting some yourself."

"Ryoko?"

"Hm?"

"Still won't tell me what part of the Jurai secret Kagato's after?"

"Nope! And it would really help if you didn't think about it, either. One chance image in your head would make all of us expendable, and let Kagato enjoy untold power."

"And what do I think about while I'm trying not to think about it?"

Ryoko pause for a moment, then said, "The young trade delegate. Or, better, your sister, Sasami. Think about them. Remember them. Remember your true feelings. Kagato can't handle love, Ayeka. It's alien to him; he just doesn't get it at all. Trust me, concentrate on your greatest loves and it will set you free of his grasp!"

The princess nodded, and said softly, "What of you? You were under his spell once. Have you enough to keep yourself free?"

"Enough love? Ha! I have generations and generations of Masaki love, Ayeka! The best stuff in the universe! And I happened to land in a place where philosophers and soldiers have very interesting ideas about a tough, disciplined mind! And don't forget, I may have just a few nasty secrets still hidden!"

Ayeka feigned shock "You're joking!"

"I hope Kagato thinks so! By the way, I've arranged transportation for tomorrow. Something a little faster than your ship and a whole lot more agile! We'll be leaving at dawn!"

"Yes, good. We can use the sun's radiation through the atmosphere to temporarily cloud the Souja sensors!"

"Yeah, I guess. Actually, here on Earth, they just do stuff like this at dawn. Must be good karma or something, but, hey! I'll take anything that gets us good karma! Try and get some rest, okay? Looks like our last day is gonna be a long one!"

  
  



End file.
